Sideswipe Brewing Co., which began selling late last year, will open up its own taproom for regular hours Thursday.

“We’d been wanting to do this from the beginning,” owner and brewer Craig O’Herron told me.

After a few months of brewing and beating the streets for retail accounts, he said he was ready to establish set hours for a taproom. He added seating for between eight and 20 at the warehouse brewery at 2419 Scioto Harper Drive west of downtown.

Starting this Thursday, the space will be open 5 to 9 p.m. with the potential to add Friday and Saturday hours.

Sideswipe kicked off (pun intended – O’Herron is black-belt martial artist) last year not on tap as so many startups have, but in bottles with its initial three beers: Coop Looter Saison, Fisticuffs IPA and Elegant Hoodlum Smoked Stout. You’re more likely to find it on store shelves, though the brewery did begin some keg sales in April. The brewery added a fourth beer this month, its first seasonal, with Pixelated Sun Hoppy Wheat.

O’Herron said the wheat beer will go away in early fall to be replaced with a pumpkin ale, but that’s not the only product plans in the works.

“We’ll start working on some very limited-release beers that’ll only be available at the brewery,” he said.

The taproom will sell pints, bottles and growlers.

Taprooms are an increasingly popular way for breweries to bring their beer to the masses without the big outlay for a more formalized bar. Elevator Brewing Co. and Four String Brewing Co. both allow visitors to sit and sip in the brewery. Wolf’s Ridge Brewing is adding a taproom separate from its restaurant operations.